9. Deputy Edward Timmins asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage how quickly the new housing national planning framework targets will be given to the county councils so that they can amend their county development plans; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24826/25]

Sentiment score: 0.01

How quickly will the new national planning framework, NPF, housing targets be given to the county councils so they can amend their county development plans? Currently many planning permissions are being refused because the development plan's core strategy has population targets too low. Given this delay, I have seen a planning application for 335 houses in Blessington, County Wicklow, supported by the council and all elected members refused by An Bord Pleanála because the local area plan was not up to date with the new housing targets.

Sentiment score: -0.27

I want to raise two other related matters. The Minister of State has referred to one of them, which is headroom. The time taken for these amendments to the county development plan is too long as it can take up to nine months. Can we look to expedite this timeframe? To discuss in more detail the issue of headroom, from my experience of development plans, the previous direction from the Office of the Planning Regulator was 0% headroom, which is very misguided. It is imperative that there be a considerable percentage headroom because in practice many sites will not be developed for various reasons. All landowners are not ready to go to developers. In the real world, site development often has many obstacles, including cost, that may lead to planning refusals. I suggest headroom in the order of 70%.

Sentiment score: -0.06

I often see a gap between the way the councils operate and what happens here in Leinster House. The councils need to be closely involved in the delivery of housing. Delivery must be micromanaged. These targets must be drilled down further, with monthly figures produced by all local authorities of actuals versus targets, and explanations given. This is the only way to deliver a large number of houses. The Minister must then meet the CEOs of the councils and the head of planning on, say, a quarterly basis. This method is exactly the way a business would aim to achieve its targets. I will just mention tiered zoning. In many current plans it is tiered, even when both have access to services. There should be no tiered zoning in these cases because if tier one is not developed, it often precludes tier 2 from being developed, which is wrong.

Sentiment score: -0.06